Research
Spatial RNA Biology & Technology
RNA transcripts are far more than the static snapshots captured by single-cell sequencing. They are dynamic molecules — continuously transcribed, transported, translated and degraded with precise timing. These spatiotemporal RNA dynamics, and the localized translation they enable, represent a powerful but underexplored layer of gene regulation in development, stem cell function, and aging.
Existing spatial transcriptomics methods capture only where RNA molecules sit at a single moment, making it difficult to probe these dynamic processes within heterogeneous cell populations. To address this gap, our group develops imaging-based in situ profiling technologies that spatially resolve post-transcriptional RNA dynamics at transcriptome scale in single cells. This work has produced two enabling technologies: TEMPOmap, which measures where and when RNAs are newly transcribed, transported and degraded; and RIBOmap, which measures where translation occurs at the genomic level. Together, these methods make it possible, for the first time, to holistically profile single-molecule RNA transcripts across spatial localization, temporal dynamics and translation within intact single cells.
Building on this foundation, our laboratory focuses on developing and applying next-generation spatial and temporal RNA sequencing technologies to visualize the full life cycle of RNA directly in intact cells and tissues. Our research spans RNA-based molecular technology development, nucleic acid chemistry, spatial omics, single-molecule imaging, RNA regulation in health and disease, cell fate projection, and spatiotemporal RNA modelling and algorithm development. Through these approaches we aim to uncover when, where and how RNA processes are regulated in space and time, and how these dynamics shape cell fate and tissue organization in health and disease.
We are actively recruiting Postdoctoral Fellows, Research Officers, PhD students and research assistants with interests in RNA biology, molecular technology development, spatial omics, or computational genomics. For enquiries, please contact Rena Ren at renarenlab@gmail.com.
For more information, please visit our lab website: renarenlab.org
About the PI
Dr. Rena Ren is a chemical biologist and RNA technologist whose work sits at the interface of nucleic acid chemistry, single-molecule imaging and genomics. She received her B.A. in Biochemistry from Bryn Mawr College and completed her Ph.D. in Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the supervision of Dr. Xiao Wang, where she developed spatiotemporal transcriptomic and translatomic imaging technologies. She subsequently carried out postdoctoral training with Dr. Yi Zhang at Harvard Medical School as a Helen Hay Whitney Postdoctoral Fellow, extending spatial translatome mapping into mammalian oocytes and early embryos. She joins the Genome Institute of Singapore, A*STAR, in October 2026 to establish the Laboratory of Spatial RNA Biology & Technology.
Selected Publications
- Ren, J., Furniss, S., Zhou, C., Zhou, H., Hagihara, Y., Wang, X., Zhang, Y.* (2026). Subcellularly resolved 3D translatome in mouse oocytes and early embryos. bioRxiv.
- Ren, J., Zeng, H., Huang, J., Shi, H., Sui, X., Tang, Z., Luo, S., Tian, J., Wu, M., Wang, X.* (2025). Spatially resolved in situ profiling of mRNA life cycle at transcriptome scale in intact cells and tissues. Nature Protocols.
- Ren, J., Luo, S., Shi, H.*, Wang, X.* (2024). Spatial omics advances for in situ RNA biology. Molecular Cell, 84(19), 3737–3757.
- Chen, H., Liu, D., Guo, J., Aditham, A., Zhou, Y., Tian, J., Luo, S., Ren, J., Hsu, A., Huang, J., Kostas, F., Wu, M., Liu, D.R., Wang, X.* (2024). Chemically and topologically engineered branched mRNA with ultra translation capacity. Nature Biotechnology, 43, 194–203.
- Shi, H., He, Y., Zhou, Y., Huang, J., Wang, B., Tang, Z., Tan, P., Wu, M., Lin, M., Ren, J., Thapa, Y., Tang, X., Liu, A., Chan, K.Y., Liu, J.*, Wang, X.* (2023). Spatial atlas of molecular cell types and AAV accessibility across the mouse central nervous system. Nature, 622(7983), 552–561.
- Zeng, H.†, Huang, J.†, Ren, J.†, Wang, C.K., Tang, Z., Zhou, Y., Aditham, A., Shi, H., Sui, X., Wang, X.* (2023). Spatially resolved single-cell translatomics at subcellular resolution. Science, 380(6652), eadd3067. †Equal contribution.
- Ren, J. †, Zhou, H. †, Zeng, H. †, Wang, C.K., Huang, J., Qiu, X., Maher, K., Lin, Z., He, Y., Tang, X., Li, B., Liu, J., Wang, X.* (2023). Spatiotemporally resolved transcriptomics reveals subcellular RNA kinetic landscape. Nature Methods, 20(5), 695–705.
- Zeng, H., Huang, J., Zhou, H., Meilandt, W.J., Dejanovic, B., Zhou, Y., Bohen, C.J., Lee, S., Ren, J., Liu, A., Sheng, H., Liu, J., Wang, X.* (2023). Integrative in situ mapping of single-cell transcriptional states and tissue histopathology in an Alzheimer's disease model. Nature Neuroscience, 26(3), 430–440.
- He, Y.†, Tang, X.†, Huang, J., Ren, J., Zhou, H., Chen, K., Liu, A., Shi, A., Lin, Z., Li, Q., Aditham, A., Ounadjela, J., Grody, E.I., Shu, J., Liu, J.*, Wang, X.* (2021). ClusterMap for multi-scale clustering analysis of spatial gene expression. Nature Communications, 12(1), 5909.